The new war in Afghanistan and a new turn in history

 Dr. Firoz Mahboob Kamal

A new war with a new strategy      

The enemies’ war never ends. They only change the strategies and the weapons. That is exactly true for the USA and its allies. The military war of the USA and its allies has ended in Afghanistan. But the Taliban is still perceived as an enemy. Hence, the war continues. But it is an economic cum ideological war. The USA and its allies are now behaving like wounded wolves. They are not in a mood to swallow the humiliating defeat. They are exploring every possible way to take revenge on the Taliban. They have killed directly and indirectly more than a million people in Afghanistan. They have dropped thousands of bombs to destroy cities, villages, and homes.

But a predator never stays silent in a cave. The appetite for causing more harm to the Taliban and to the Afghan people now guides US policy. Creating the worst famine in Afghanistan is now a lethal weapon in the US hands. To cause such a famine, the USA has blocked Afghanistan’s reserve of 8 billion US dollars in the USA’s monetary institutions. The USA-dominated World Bank has also blocked 6 billion US dollar aid for Afghanistan. Thus, making Afghanistan a failed state and discrediting the Taliban for the failure is their joint strategy. They didn’t bother about the deaths of innocent Afghans during the war of occupation; nor do they bother about the deaths during the ongoing economic occupation. 

Before the USA occupation, Afghanistan was not a country of the destitute.  The country’s economy was not that worse as it is now. In those days, the people were not so desperate to leave the country like today. The current dire economic crisis owes to 30 years’ war against foreign occupation. The war went on for10 years against Soviet Russia in the 1980s and 20 years against the USA. The long occupational wars of the foreign invaders made Afghanistan a country of destruction, deaths, refugees, and severe economic crisis.

The USA and its allies have left Afghanistan. But the worst consequences of the long war stay there to aggravate the pains of the people and cause terrible hurdles for the Taliban administration. It is widely acclaimed that with the victory of the Taliban, the law and order situation has drastically improved. Peace has returned back. Men and women can move without fear of being killed or robbed outside the home. But the war-fatigued Taliban fight the imposed economic war.

But it is a shame that the western media and the western leaders are blaming the Taliban for all the ongoing miseries in Afghanistan. Moreover, the west’s ideological foot-soldiers are let loose in the streets of Kabul to protest against the Taliban for western values cum feminist rights. They are not ready to give the Taliban a war-free time to restore the peace, tranquillity, and economy of the country. They conveniently forget that Afghanistan is a war-torn country. Not surprisingly, the UN Human Rights Council is now vocal on women’s rights and human rights in Afghanistan. They look selective and biased against the Taliban. Whereas, they remain conspicuously silent on the survival rights of the Afghan people under the US occupation.   

The war on Islam

The USA and its western allies have their beloved legacies and ideologies. These western nations are raised in a culture of imperialism, colonialism, colonial exploitation, racism, nationalism, fascism, and ethnic cleansing. They need an enemy to feed their imperial war and war industries. In the past, they had a communist block led by the Socialist Soviet Union of Russia. After its collapse, they have identified Islam as the new enemy. These countries are now ruled by people who are intoxicated by Islamophobia. They hate everything that relates to the revival of Islam. Terrorism is now defined to fit into their war agenda. Islamists are now labeled as terrorists.

They consider the Islamists who want to return back to the original Islam of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that constitutes Islamic state, sharia, pan-Islamic unity, and jihad as a security threat to the west. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair postulated such apprehension in a recent seminar in London. This way the people of his ilk justify the pre-emptive occupation of Muslim countries as a legitimate right. Thus, they legitimize the west’s perpetual war on Islam.

Mr. Tony Blair showed his strong distaste for the USA’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. He believes in a perpetual war against radical Islam and Islamists. After the US withdrawal, he even suggested a European war against the Islamists. For people like him, the occupation of Palestine, the demolition of Palestinians’ homes, the ethnic cleansing of the occupied land, and the settlement colonization in Palestine are the legitimate normal. Hence they don’t raise any voice against Israel. Any protest against the western or Israeli occupation is labeled as a war against western values, culture, and democracy –as was proclaimed by George W. Bush while launching the US war on Afghanistan. This way they raise the necessary foundation of a civilizational war.

No love for people

The USA and its allies have no love for the survival right or the economic wellbeing of the people of Afghanistan; nor for any other people in any of the Muslim countries. They don’t bother either about democracy, human rights, women’s rights, or health rights for these poor people. They make these issues only to sell their political and military objectives to others in the world.

The USA has invested 2.2 trillion US dollars in the war in Afghanistan. They have invested 2.1 trillion US dollars in the war in Iraq. If they have any love for the people of Afghanistan they would have invested a few billion to save lives. Currently, it is reported that more than 70 percent of people in Afghanistan live in poverty. Even a UNO official told in the UNO’s Security Council about a looming economic catastrophe there. But that is not an issue in the ruling circles of the west. They are worried about women’s burkha and feminist rights. In the name of inclusivity, they are desperate to put more pressure on the Taliban to take some political enemies in the cabinet. They are putting pressure to stop the implementation of the fundaments of Islam. This way they run an ideological war on Muslims.  

The USA and its allies celebrated the military victory of the USA in Afghanistan by killing and torturing thousands of people. They opened torture industries in Bagram, Guantanamo Bay, and Abu Ghraib, and in many client states. To escape international law, they even established torture cells in cargo ships floating in deep oceans. Hundreds of Islamists are kept in jail for about 20 years without any trial. These are the US standards. Those who have an iota of love for human life and dignity, can they indulge in such brutality?

Whereas on 15 August 2021, while the Taliban got the military victory, they showed their love and honor for human lives and dignity. None was killed. None was tortured. None was arrested. Such a peaceful victory didn’t happen in the whole span of western history. The Taliban announced general amnesty to everyone. Even those who collaborated with the US occupying forces in killing the Taliban fighters are given amnesty. Such a glorious history didn’t enjoy even a mention in the morally depleted western press. They are busy vilifying the Taliban.

The investment only in wars

The USA and its allies are ready to invest trillions of dollars in the war of occupation and geopolitical dominance. They invest to run socio-cultural engineering to produce mental slaves in third-world countries so that they can work as mercenaries. But they dislike investing in peace and development. In the last 20 years, they have created a huge number of mental slaves in Afghanistan to make them fully incompatible with the native people, native culture, and the Islamic faith. They are nurtured only to fight against Islam and the Islamists hands in hands with the foreign occupiers. These misfits are the people who are now queueing up to leave Afghanistan. This reveals how much the USA and its allies have corrupted people’s mind and culture and alienated from Islam. 

The US ruling elites love war-like deep polarization of the world. So the US President George W. Bush prescribed the dichotomy: either with us or against us. Neutrality in the US-led war and staying away from the war weren’t given an option. So they have divided the world into two poles: the US-led pole of anti-Muslim and the pole of Muslims. Afghanistan is deeply divided on that. It is good news for the Islamists that they could defeat the most powerful world power. The credit goes to the Taliban. They proved to be the great heroes of Islam.

The ray of new hope

Now it is the beginning of the end of the American Empire. In history, the Muslims have proved to be the destroyers of superpowers. They destroyed the Persian Empire, the Roman Empire, the Soviet Empire, and the British Empire. Now they are on a head-to-head collision against the American Empire. In dismantling the British Empire, the ending of British rule in India played a crucial role. Because the huge wealth of India played a major role to give sustenance to the British Empire. Its huge manpower also gave expansion to the British occupation in Africa and other parts of the world. The Indian Muslims played the most decisive role to drive the British out of India. In this regard, the Khilafat Movement against the British was the first mass movement in Indian political history. Mr. Ghandi of the Indian Congress didn’t see such a mass movement in India before. He also gave support to it. The Khilafat Movement was indeed the Indian Muslims’ strong retaliation against the British for their role in dismantling the Osmania Khilafa. That was the beginning of the quick end of the British Empire.

World history is now taking a sharp new turn. At least, the Muslims now have a state to showcase the beauty of Islam. It is the most significant turning point of modern history. Only those who earnestly love to sacrifice their lives to please All-Powerful Allah can change the fate of human history. Muslims proved that many a time in the past. The Taliban are proving it now. Almighty Allah Sub’han wa Ta’la becomes an integral part of such a Divine mission. The Taliban have shown that the blood of the martyrs is mightier than bombs, drones, and missiles. This is indeed the strength of Islam.11/09/2021.